For decades, Americans have thought of censorship and cultural oppression as outward problems, with an impact felt mostly in countries other than the United States. But with such free expression groups as PEN America characterizing the first 100 days of the second Trump administration as “a five-alarm fire for free speech,” it’s clear that censorship is an increasingly significant problem in the U.S.—as well as its neighbors in Latin America.

Last month, Princeton University Press (PUP) convened a one day event to discuss the state of publishing in Latin America today. Brigitta von Rheinberg of PUP, Cristóbal Pera from Planeta USA, Sayri Karp of Editorial Universidad de Guadalajara, and Nicolás Cuellar from the independent Mexico City–based Dharma Books sat on a panel to discuss how politics are impacting their publishing practices.

"Stay calm, focused, carry on," said von Rheinberg, associate director of PUP and director of global development, invoking the British wartime motto when asked how publishers should handle today's political climate. "Speak up where you can and as long as you can. Nobody's life is in danger yet, at least not ours—yes, other people's are, unfortunately—but we must not self-censor before something has even happened."

Self-censorship emerged as one of the primary concerns among panelists. Pera, VP and publisher of Planeta USA and recently appointed board member at PUP, identified it as "the most dangerous [form of censorship], because it is one that people might fall into inadvertently."

Pera heads up Planeta's bilingual publishing collaboration with PUP, which launched in 2024 with Puerto Rico: A National History by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo. He emphasized the importance of publishing as an extension of free expression: "We speak as publishers through the books that we decide to publish, one book at a time."

The conversation revealed stark contrasts between publishing environments. While Princeton operates with relative freedom from government interference—so far, at least—Latin American publishers described more direct threats to intellectual autonomy.

"In Mexico, most universities are state universities," Karp, who runs the university press at the University of Guadalajara, explained. "In the name of most of these universities, we have the word 'autonomous.' What's happening since the last president [of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador], and this new president, [Claudia Sheinbaum], is that universities have been living a crisis. The government doesn't want the universities to be there."

Karp, who served as president of the Association of Latin American and Caribbean University Presses from 2015 to 2023 and received the Rubén Bonifaz Nuño University Presses Award in 2018, described a recent conflict where the state government attempted to withhold funding from the University of Guadalajara, intending to build a hospital instead. "Everybody was saying, 'Of course we need a hospital,' but there are two different things," she said. "He can build the hospital and also give the money to the university."

For independent literary publishers, economic constraints function as "passive censorship," said Dharma’s Cuellar, who cofounded the small press in 2016 with Raúl Padilla, the late former dean of the University of Guadalajara and president of the Guadalajara International Book Fair. Since then, Dharma has put out more than 70 titles from award-winning authors—including Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Man Booker Prize winners—despite financial challenges.

"It's not like someone is shutting us down," Cuellar said. "But it's the ecosystem that is harder for us to publish all the books that we want to publish."

Politics impacts book choices

Often, the panelists agreed, political climates have an affect on title acquisition at their presses. Von Rheinberg noted that a number of Princeton's recent titles directly engage with contemporary political sociocultural debates, pointing to such works as Sex as a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary by Agustín Fuentes, The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters by economist Diane Coyle, and We Have Never Been Woke by Musa al-Gharbi as examples. In COVID's Wake: How Politics Failed Us, by Steve Medema and Francis Lee, and AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Princeton computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, she added, were among recent bestselling titles for the publisher that engage with pressing current events.

At the University of Guadalajara, Karp said, the press has published a list of 25 titles focusing on crises in Latin America—the product of a collaboration between four German universities and such Latin American institutions as Universidad de Costa Rica, FLACSO Ecuador, and Universidad Nacional de San Martín in Buenos Aires. "We talk about economic crisis, political crisis in all the different countries in Latin America, environmental crisis, educational crisis," Karp said. "The most important thing about these books is that they not only criticize what's going on, they give strategies to work with."

When asked about responsibility in publishing controversial material, Cuellar reframed the question, asking instead, "How do you see, as an editor or a publisher, the vision that you have for your catalog? Why do you think that book is necessary for the public? What do you think that book will bring to the conversation?"

To explore the question, Cuellar pointed to a contentious case involving Anagrama's book El odio (Hate), a book by journalist Luisgé Martín about Jose Bretón, a man who killed his two young children in 2011; the book was withdrawn from publication this month after the mother of the slain children won a court battle to block the book, saying it violated her children’s rights. Cuellar noted that one of the issues with the book is that the journalist failed to properly interview the family of victims, but then questioned whether that responsibility ultimately lies with the publisher or the author.

Publishing comes with threats

Pera shared experiences from his time as publishing director of Random House Mexico from 2006 to 2016, recalling how government contracts influenced editorial decisions at many publishing houses. He described how, upon arriving in Mexico from his native Spain, he was approached about publishing journalist Carmen Aristegui's book about presidential candidates including Manuel López Obrador and Felipe Calderón after another publisher rejected it due to potential controversy.

"[The other publisher] had big business with the government because a big part of their production was making books for the government," Pera said. "What happened is that they said, 'Now we cannot publish this book because it's going to be very controversial.' This is an example of how the ties with governments in Latin America can make you self-censor your own list."

The safety of authors also emerged as a concern. "I had not one but several authors that had to come to my office in Mexico to talk about their new book with bodyguards," Pera said. "The threats could be from the narcos, but also in many cases from the government." He specifically mentioned journalists Lydia Cacho and Anabel Hernández, who required security protection provided by the city when meeting with publishers.

Despite these challenges, the panelists expressed optimism about publishing's future. "I think the future is strong," von Rheinberg said. I think our strength is our people and our people are amazing." She pointed to PUP's expansion into China with the 2017 opening of an office in Beijing as "a crucial milestone to build a thriving global university press," and discussed ongoing work with their Chinese colleague Lingxi Li, managing director of PUP China, in forging connections with the Chinese academy.

For Cuellar, the future of independent publishing in Mexico depends on improved distribution. He described the model employed in Denmark, where "all the publishing houses own the distribution company" and operate it together, suggesting this as a potential path forward.

Pera said he is sanguine at, and even impressed by, the opportunities offered by the Spanish-language market in the U.S. "Spanish book sales are growing steadily in the United States, much more than English proportionally," he said. "In the past few years, it has been growing at a rate of 20% more than the previous year, and this is big."

This growth, Pera added, comes at an important moment. "When the White House shuts down its website in Spanish, when they decide that the only official language is English...my answer is to point to facts" about the growth of Spanish-language books, he said. Pera emphasized that young adult books are driving much of this growth, suggesting a promising future for Spanish-language readers in the U.S.

The panel concluded with each publisher highlighting projects they're particularly proud of. Cuellar celebrated Dharma's publication of Argentine author Ariana Harwicz, whose novel Die, My Love will soon be adapted for film. He also noted the success of the press's poetry program, which has sold out of all its first editions.

Karp pointed to a collaborative collection of books focused on music kicking off with Cumbia Somos by Enrique Blanc, which covers a popular Latin American music genre. The books are being published in partnership with several university presses, including those at Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Chile’s Universidad Católica, and Universidad de Buenos Aires.

For its part, PUP plans to continue fostering the debate and discussion about important issues in publishing. To end the talk, von Rheinberg highlighted Princeton's lecture series partnerships with universities in China, where the Princeton Wenyan Lectures are cosponsored with Peking University and will debuted during this year’s Beijing Book Fair. The university also recently announced its Latin American Global Lecture series, produced by the Colegio de México and Princeton's Latin American Studies Program, where Mexican author Cristina Rivera Garza will be the inaugural speaker later this year.